Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols thinks that ubuntu will be MS' next partner, but that is dismissed by Mark Shuttleworth in his blog.
First, there is the claim at Linux-watch

Quote:

So, who's next? Well, that same morning, I was thinking about Ubuntu as another possible candidate.

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical Ltd., the company behind Ubuntu, had never been as hostile towards Microsoft as some Linux leaders. I mean, this is the Linux leader who's recently said “I'd love to work with Microsoft…”

Neither Canonical nor the Ubuntu project have any interest in signing an agreement with Microsoft on the back of the threat of unspecified patents. We have consistently (but politely ) declined to pursue those conversations with Microsoft, in the absence of any details of the alleged patent infringements.